Norsk News
Wed. Oct. 9, 2024
Attendance
Student Rotarians Stella Almquist, Senior, Club Interact, Sydney Jungels, Alaman Senior, Club Interact, Svetlana Neshlyaeva, Peggy Zalucha, Gary Tree, Bob Johnson, Susan Smith, Steve Salerno, Paul Christiansen, Keith White, guest Ellen Bernard
Announcements:
Stella from Club Interact: The team is preparing Friends of State Street boxes to help unhoused individuals with necessities, child gift boxes for Christmas, and tied blankets for the American Family Children's Hospital, funded by a Rotary award. Upcoming events include a Halloween outreach on October 27 at local senior homes and gathering materials for Christmas gifts.
Steve S: Still have a $100 gift certificate from Hi-Point Steakhouse, donated for the 10K raffle, that is available to purchase.
Keith: We have one potential outbound student from Mount Horeb and a second from Richland Center High School, who lacks a local Rotary club and would like us to sponsor them.
Happy Bucks: Gary T: Good news update about his daughter-in-law's breast cancer prognosis and successful surgery.
Paul C: His daughter Sophia's recent gymnastics achievements, including winning a state meet and ranking in the top 25 nationally.
Peggy Z: A friend from Marseilles, Illinois celebrated her 50th year as a Rotarian, with perfect attendance in most of those years. Happy buck for Peter Walton, who collected supplies for people affected by Hurricane Helene and is taking them to North Carolina in a trailer and a truck.
Ellen B (visiting from South Madison Rotary): Happy bucks for her daughter’s upcoming wedding and an trades event for students with the Madison Area Builders Association.
Presentation: Bird Preventing Collisions.
Brenna Marsicek, of the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance, came to talk about the fall migration and efforts from Alliance volunteers to reduce bird collisions. She showed charts explaining that after cats, collisions with windows are the second leading killer of birds, resulting in an estimated 1 billion bird deaths a year in the United States. Homes kill far more birds than offices buildings or skyscrapers, but there are many window treatments that can reduce the reflectivity of home windows: including insect screens, dots, and paracord curtains. She stressed the importance of following the two-inch rule for window treatments to prevent birds from trying to fly through small gaps. Reducing nighttime lights, which attract the birds, is also important. You can view her full presentation
here. And in the spring, they will be recruiting volunteers for the Bird Collision Corps, which monitor large buildings in Dane County. Read more about that citizen science effort
here.
Action Items
● Become a member of the Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance and visit their site for info on making your home bird safe
● Purchase materials for Christmas gift boxes and deliver them to Interact students.
● Visit Ingleside and Beehive senior living facilities on October 27th at 11 AM to distribute treats.